Vivaldi’s only surviving oratorio‚ Juditha triumphans (1716)‚ with its strongly characterised roles and luxuriant orchestration‚ is a true Baroque masterpiece. Like Handel’s Roman oratorio‚ La Resurrezione (1708)‚ Vivaldi’s Venetian Juditha was designed to impress its audiences. The Ospedale della Pietà‚ where Vivaldi was maestro dei concerti‚ competed with three other similar institutions for the patronage of wealthy Venetians‚ and the annual Lenten performances offered the perfect opportunity.

Digitally remastered and expanded edition of this 1980 album from the R&B siblings, one of the most successful female groups in music history. Special Things features the gold selling single 'He's So Shy', which returned the group to R&B Top Ten as well as soaring all the way to #3 on the Billboard Hot 100, earning them a Grammy nomination in the process. The album made #19 Soul and #34 Pop in 1980 and features contributions from Burt Bacharach on keyboards alongside Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame inductee and Motown session musician, James Jamerson on bass. Includes a non-album B-side as bonus track plus extensive liner notes featuring exclusive interviews with Ruth and Anita Pointer.

Quincy Jones followed up Smackwater Jack and his supervision of Donny Hathaway's Come Back Charleston Blue soundtrack with this, a mixed bag that saw him inching a little closer toward the R&B-dominated approach that reached full stride on the following Body Heat and peaked commercially with The Dude. That said, the album's most notorious cut is The Streetbeater, better known as the Sanford & Son theme, a novelty for most but also one of the greasiest, grimiest instrumental fusions of jazz and funk ever laid down, while its second most noteworthy component is a drastic recasting of Summer in the City, as heard in the Pharcyde's Passin' Me By, where the frantic, bug-eyed energy of the Lovin' Spoonful original is turned into a magnetically lazy drift driven by Eddie Louis' organ, Dave Grusin's electric piano, and Valerie Simpson's voice. (Simpson gives the song a Summertime-like treatment.)

Foundling - the stunning new effort by internationally acclaimed singer-songwriter David Gray – begins with those evocative and somewhat mysterious words. What follows is an extraordinary song cycle of rare and timeless power that bears a rather fitting title. As people today may or may not remember, the word "foundling" is defined as "an infant found after its unknown parents have abandoned it." And as Gray puts it with a warm laugh, "Foundling sort of arrived at my door without my asking it to, so it felt very appropriate for this album."

In a century that seemed to turn it's back on the aspirations of 19th century composers, some musicians kept the Romantic tradition of the composer/virtuoso alive well into the 20th century. Perhaps the most important and forward thinking 20th century virtuoso pianist and composer was Serge Prokofiev. Unlike his fellow Russian, Rachmaninov, Prokofiev created a significant body of virtuoso pieces to the piano literature, which also reflected his modernist sensibilities. Among the strongest of these works are the five piano concertos.

Excepting a few years with Mercury at the beginning of their career, Flatt & Scruggs made all of their studio recordings for Columbia. This double-disc set is the most useful survey of their work for the label, spanning 1950 to 1969, and throwing in three unreleased tracks along the way. In addition to the expected sterling bluegrass, it has their occasional commercial breakthroughs ("The Ballad of Jed Clampett," "Petticoat Junction," and the version of "Foggy Mountain Breakdown" that was used as the theme to Bonnie and Clyde). Curiosity seekers will also be impressed by their cover of Bob Dylan's "Down in the Flood," recorded in late 1967, and unreleased by Dylan himself until The Basement Tapes.

There is no shortage of good (and even great) Hank Williams collections out there on CD, not only from Polygram and Universal (the successors to MGM Records, to which Williams was signed), but also from their licensees. Such is the case with this 1994 CD collection, a joint production of Time-Life and the Country Music Hall of Fame, containing 25 songs in a very handsome and well-put-together package.

Admirers of Karajan will probably own most or all of these symphony cycles from what was probably the pinnacle of the conductor's prolific career. However, if you are unfamiliar with Karajan's work, or well enough acquainted with it to desire further exploration, then this amazingly inexpensive anthology can be enthusiastically recommended. I purchased all of these sets when they came out in DG's previous mid-priced "Karajan Symphony Edition," and I can testify to their consistently oustanding quality, both as performances and as interpretations. As recordings, however, it must be admitted that the sound is of variable quality; sometimes admirably vivid and well balanced, but frequently tending toward harshness, even garishness–particularly in those which come from the early digital era (cf. Bruckner's symphonies 1-3). Too bad Universal didn't see fit to give this magnificent legacy a sonic facelift. Still, the performances are sufficiently worthy of your attention to warrant purchase regardless of these sonic limitations.

This, Big Smith's first studio album of original material since 2000's Big Rock, is the first to feature the six-person lineup now so familiar to fans and marks the beginning of a new creative era for the band. With the addition of two songwriters and vocalists, bassist Bill Thomas and violinist Molly Healey, the material has an expanded scope and scale, yet remains firmly grounded in the band's trademark sound. Roots, Shoots, and Wings also reflects the renewed energy of their recent live performances. Sixteen songs, an hour's worth of music, constitutes the first batch of new songs that listeners can now expect will come from Big Smith on a regular basis.

Glenn Gould's recording debut in 1955 of Bach's Goldberg Variations took the world by storm. His decidedly un-Romantic view, absolute technical skill, startling lucidity, and right-on rhythmic changes, combined with his eccentricities–audible humming, sometimes outrageously fast tempi–made him an instantly legendary pianist and elucidated Bach's music in a whole new way. Gould's final recording, 26 years later, was also of the Goldbergs. It's a more relaxed, sometimes much slower, more inward reading (although still very much his own, complete with oddly ferocious attacks and accents), in which he offers repeats of the first half of 15 of the Variations. Both performances are glorious, each in its own way, and this luxurious new set of three CDs is entertaining, a joy to hear, and revelatory; it belongs in any music lover's collection. The third CD is devoted to outtakes and chatter from recording sessions. At one point, Gould improvises "God Save the King" and exhibits how it turns into "The Star-Spangled Banner." And a long interview with critic Tim Page offers great insight into Gould's weird humor and unique outlook. A must-have collection.

2010 box set from the Soul/Jazz/Rock legend containing five original albums from the Atlantic vaults packaged together in one great release! Features the albums Genius + Soul = Jazz (1960), The Genius After Hours (1961), The Genius Hits The Road (1960), The Genius Of Ray Charles (1959) and The Genius Sings The Blues (1961).

AVID Roots here presents two classic Champion Jack Dupree albums plus, including original LP liner notes on a finely re-mastered and low priced double CD. 'Blues From The Gutter' and 'Champion Jack's Natural & Soulful Blues' from 1958 and 1959 respectively are complimented by a host of Singles from the 1940's and 50's, many of which are finding their way onto CD for the very first time courtesy of AVID! We kick things off with Jack's first two albums, 'Blues From The Gutter' recorded in New York in 1958 and considered by many to be his finest work to that point and perhaps his finest work ever! We follow this with an album dear to British blues enthusiasts hearts and recorded in 1959 in London using such stalwart British bluesmen as Alexis Korner and Jack Fallon……'Champion Jack's Natural & Soulful Blues'. Concluding side one and onto side two we have a selection of Jack's singles recorded in the 40's and 50's for such diverse labels as Continental, Red Robin, King and Groove & Vik. Unlike many bluesmen born around the early 1900's Champion Jack Dupree went on to have a very long and full life, travelling extensively around Europe and recording for many different labels as witnessed on this fine double CD. He finally settled in Germany where he died in 1992 having recorded over 40 albums!

Jazz guitarist, one of the most talented in Europe, C. Escoudé, just released a new record called "Catalogne". Yet no Sardana, no Catalan-inspired music, but standards and compositions by Ellington, Reinhardt, Glenn Miller and Michel Legrand. Sound, admirable, and the arrangements, concocted in Chicago is far from the folklore of below the Pyrenees … But the love of a name, country, memories of happiness led to this name … and then Jazz Catalan is booming! This simple music for all, but lived and experienced by seven musicians sincere, is to listen to the top of the castle of Tossa or in the blue bay of Tamariu …

The first in a stunning collection of Eric Whitacre s choral works conducted for the first time by Eric himself and performed by The Eric Whitacre Singers, Laudibus and friends.